In the early days of the Internet, long before they had been replaced by Discord, Instagram, or Facebook groups, a small number of the chat rooms and email discussion lists that flourished in those days focused on remote viewing. Back then, those of us who joined these lists and chat rooms had some epic discussions (not to mention a few epic fights) about remote viewing and claims surrounding it. The founder of one of these remote viewing lists named it “Stargate,” which he erroneously thought was the correct name for the government remote viewing program. For awhile, “Stargate” was the Internet go-to if you wanted to discuss remote viewing.
I’ve lost count of the number of times when (probably once or twice a week) someone new would sign up for the list, thinking that it was about the Stargate television series, or the movie of the same name. Every once in a while, new members were even looking for fresh, juicy revelations about devices allegedly discovered in Antarctica, mentioned by interview guests on late-night talk radio—devices that allowed instantaneous travel between planets, accompanied by a whooshing something-or-other that looked like a cross between a billowing cloud and the suds in an overloaded washing machine.
I was always amused by the sense of bewilderment these people showed once they figured out there was nothing about a “stargate,” nor a movie, nor a TV series being discussed by the members of the group. Instead, some weird thing called “remote viewing” was the topic of conversation. These new folks would quickly flee the group, looking for a forum more in line with what they had expected.
Ever since the real Star Gate program was revealed to the public back in late 1995, there has been confusion about its name. I’ll give you the bottom line right now, so you won’t have to read on to see why it is the bottom line—unless you want to. The correct name for the military remote viewing program is not “Stargate.” It is “Star Gate”—two words, each capitalized. So there you go, the bottom line. But, of course, there is always more to be said.
“How can you be so certain that ‘Star Gate’ is correct?” you may be asking me in your head. It’s easy. First, examine every document that has the Star Gate name on it in the CIA’s declassified archives of the remote viewing program. You will note that it is always written “STAR GATE,” (and later, “Star Gate”) without exception. I have gone through nearly all of these thousands of documents quite exhaustively, and never seen it written “Stargate.”
But wait! There’s more.
If you look back through the history of the remote viewing program, you will note that all its military incarnations were identified by a combination of two words, written separately, with initial capitals: Gondola Wish, Grill Flame, Center Lane, Dragoon Absorb, Sun Streak.
Naturally, “Star Gate” fits right in. But “Stargate” doesn’t. To understand this more fully, it helps to know where these names come from.
Classified military and intelligence community programs (such as was the remote viewing program) are usually assigned what is called an unclassified “nickname.” Often mistakenly referred to as a “code word” or “code name” (both are actually something quite different in the intelligence world), nicknames allow people involved to mention or talk about non-sensitive aspects of a classified program in their unsecured workplaces, out in unclassified surroundings if necessary, and in unclassified documents without having to reveal the program’s real (usually classified or sensitive) name and content. Everyone who is clued-in knows what is being discussed. Anyone not clued-in has, well, “no clue.”
As you can imagine, an unclassified nickname would be very handy if you were a congressional staffer who was trying to get money appropriated for (or get money taken away from) a secret program, or personnel clerks needing to inform Captain So-and-So of her new assignment, or supply people who were responsible for getting a case of paper and a toner cartridge to the right place, or—well you get the idea. One reason for this practice is so enemy agents listening in wouldn’t know which program is being referred to, even if they eavesdropped on what was being said.
So how are these “nicknames” generated? The goal is to have a random association of words that won’t convey anything about the program that it labels. Normally, the security manager of the program in question is provided with two computer-generated lists of random words. He or she arbitrarily selects a word from each list, and these words are used together to become the new unclassified nickname for the program. Hence: “Gondola Wish.”
The policy allows some latitude in the name selection. The decision makers can select any word from each list, so they may choose two words that make more sense together—for example “Center Lane” or “Grill Flame”—while still revealing nothing about the program they are meant to hide.
Unclassified nicknames have a wear-out date. First, whenever management for a program is moved from one agency or activity to a new one, a nickname change is required. Under normal circumstances, though, after approximately five years, give or take, security policies require that a new unclassified nickname be adopted. Presumably, this prevents foreign agents from eventually piecing together enough information associated with the old nickname to figure out what the program is about. It’s easy to imagine a foreign intelligence agency carefully assembling the puzzle, bit by bit. They are almost there when, “poof!” usage of the nickname they were working on suddenly disappears and they have no idea what new nickname has replaced it. They have to begin all over again from scratch.
You can see the replacement trend in the succession of remote viewing program nicknames that I listed above: Gondola Wish, Grill Flame, Center Lane, Dragoon Absorb, Sun Streak, Star Gate.
Star Gate became the latest (and final) nickname for the remote viewing program through almost the same process—though in this case there was a slight deviation along the way. In late 1990 or early 1991, it had been long enough since the Sun Streak nickname had been adopted that it was time for a change. Dale Graff was then Director for the program at its headquarters on Fort Meade, Maryland. I’ll pause here to say, that Dale was a vital part of the Star Gate program, and his importance to the remote viewing is still little known and underappreciated. Indeed, he was associated with the military side of the program for 18 years—longer than anyone else. (Read Dale’s bio here.)
Because of his position, it became Dale’s responsibility to set a new unclassified nickname in place. In due course he received the computer generated lists. On the first list, everyone in the (then) Sun Streak office could agree on the word “star.” But nothing on the second list really appealed to anyone among the staff.
Then one day as he was driving to his home on the Maryland coast, Dale had an epiphany. He passed a gate standing alongside the road, and it sparked an inspiration. Here’s how Dale describes it in his own words.
The words we had to choose from by that stage were awful. One would never want to go through a program calling it CEMENT MIXER or something like that….Driving home that evening I said, what’s wrong with “gate”? It has a nice symbolic meaning, you know, a gateway, a portal, that kind of thing. It had a very nice symbology. So I said yeah, it’s simple enough…I came back in the next morning, and I said, hey look, the “star” part is right. But let’s try “gate”—“star gate.” How about that? People looked around—I don’t know how many were in there that morning—and it felt good.
Dale went on to tell me, “I was accused of borrowing it from the movie…But then…the movie was only being filmed at the time we did this. [T]wo years later [came] the movie Stargate.” He also explained that the nickname was indeed intended to be two words, not one.
(You can read the story in my book, Reading the Enemy’s Mind, and listen here to an expanded audio clip of Dale Graff answering my questions about how the name Star Gate was introduced. Unfamiliar concepts are explained at this footnote.1)
There’s one more detail to add: When an unclassified nickname used for an active program, it is always printed and written in uppercase letters, like this: STAR GATE. Once the program is deactivated, the nickname is written only in upper and lower case, which is why it is now “Star Gate.” And that is the way that it should be done today, if one desires to be correct—and to avoid confusion with Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Teal’c, and Colonel Jack O’Neill, from Stargate SG-1.
- Unfamiliar concepts mentioned in this audio clip include:
“CW program,” which means “code-word” program—a program within a special category with added security.
“SAP,” short for “special access program,” which is a program where only a very restricted number of people are allowed access to it, even if they otherwise would have all the security clearances necessary.
“LIMDIS,” for “limited dissemination,” a category for a program with a somewhat less strict security envelope than a SAP.
“IG,” or inspector general, the office in a military or intelligence agency assigned to investigate whether regulations or policies have been violated.